Different Paths

[lanl ns]

Are there different paths that one can take in order to get to God?

[GiantsDODie]

John 10
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

6T his parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

I Cor 6:9.10

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God


John 14:6

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.[/u]


Acts 4

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. [/u]

I would say the answer to that question is no.

[ybrown]

Billions of journeys, but only one path.

[lanl ns]

I heard a Rabbi on last night that stated "all roads for those who are seeking lead to the one and only God."

Which got me to thinking are there different paths to God?

Thanks for the scripture references....................

Is it possible to say that there are some people who will seek God and will not be able to find him?

[Jasmine nsi]

I dont think its possible to say that. In seeking GOD you must first come through His son Jesus, if the road the individual is on trying to seek God, but never comes in contact with the Son, then the road, is not the correct one.

In order to obtain access to GOD, we must come in contact with Jesus.

If we are really seeking GOD, then there should really be no reason not to find him. He's not Lost...we are/were.

[GiantsDODie]

No because the Word of God declares if we seek Him we WILL find Him.

The question is which god are we seeking?

Are we seeking the god of our culture?
Are we seeking the god of our imagination?
Are we seeking the god of our religious background and upbringing?
Are we seeking the godof our preferences and rathers?

or are we seeking the TRUE and the LIVING GOD.

See humanism would like us to believe that whatever we do God will accept and that is not the case. The Bible says that a broken spirit and a contrite heart God will not despise. But if our heart isnt right or our motives not pure, or we are not truly seeking HIM we will NOT find Him.

Allow me to give an example. I knew a young lady once who was raised in a very legalistic apostolic background ( to the point where it was cultish. They believed that only apostolics who believed exactly as they did and were in their denomination were going to be saved ). She read the Word of God and began to have questions about things. She prayed and sought the Lord and said Lord I dont know what to believe. I dont know what is the truth anymore, please show me what the truth is.

About that times she met myself and a friend of mine met her and began to share things with her and show her where her church was in error according to the Word of God. She listened atr first but shortly afterwards accused us of being witches sent to confuse her and said she would never speak to us again.

Two days later I received a call from her apologizing. I atold her everything was cool but I asked her what made her call. She said THE LORD spoe to her and said. You asked me to help you know the truth and I sent people to help you see the truth and now you dont like the people I sent to show you LOL....

If we are REALLY seeking truth God will reveal....

Another story of seeking truth. Knew a girl who was a buddhist.. Believed in chanting and praying and all this other stuff. She had a friend who was also a buddhist. He was sick in the hospital. Her and another friend went by the hospital for three weeks straight chanting and praying and her friend grew worse and worse. She said I dont understand why this isnt working. She said one day GOD why isnt my friend getting any better??? Whats going on??? Show me whats wrong God !!!!

There was a christian girl ( who had been witnessing to her from time to time ) in her class who heard about her friend and asked if she could come by and pray for him. The girl came by one day and Prayed a very simple prayer for his healing IN THE NAME OF JESUS. Two days later her friend was released from the hospital completely well.

She said wait a minute I spent three weeks chanting and praying this other stuff and nothing happened. You spent 20 mins praying and prayed in JESUS name and he was well in two days.. Forget this other stuff.. Tell me about JESUS !!!!!

So if we are really seeking HIM we shall find Him. Now when we find JESUS what will we do with HIM

[ybrown]

Throughout the Bible there are numerous references to seeking and finding God, but three of my favs are:

Acts 17:27 – “that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us:”

Matthew 7:7-8 – “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

It doesn't get any plainer than Jeremiah 29:13 which says “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

The end result of seeking Him is ALWAYS finding Him.

Was this Rabbi Messianic ? His statement does seem rather peculiar.

[lanl ns]

Great post GDD, excellent questions as to which god are people seeking.

YB, I am not sure if the Rabbi was Messianic, however in context the Rabbi was answering questions regarding public prayers and that public prayers are offensive when a Christian preacher prays and ends the prayer in Jesus name.

Because all roads if one is seeking will lead to the true God.

I talked with my husband and asked what did he think about that statement and is it true that all roads if you are seeking will lead you to God.

GDD in your posts those roads did lead to God because those people were seeking truthfully GOD.....

Let me ask another question:

Does anyone know if other faiths have an intercessor likened unto Jesus, that one has to go through XYZ in order to get to God?

Or do other faiths have a direct connect to God?

For instance the Jews, is there an intercessor for them? Buddhist? Hindus?

just wondering

[Grace]

Why do people think its more than one way to get to GOd. If there is only one way to get pregnant biologically. A man and a woman, not talking bout all these other scientific ways. So why do people think they can get to God any other way than through Jesus Christ as the scripture states?

[lanl ns]

grace said:

Why do people think its more than one way to get to GOd.

I don't think that people in general think there are more than one way to get to God.

I generally think that people believe that their way is the way to get to God.

Christians believe our way, the Jewish culture believe their way, the Muslims, etc....

Essentially everyone believes that their way will lead them to God with the exception of Aethist.........

With that in mind:

Is there more than one way to get to God?

[lanl ns]

grace said:

So why do people think they can get to God any other way than through Jesus Christ as the scripture states?

unfortunately everyone does not believe in Jesus..........

[Grace]

I haven't heard of any other way to God. The jews are waiting on a Messiah so they know they got to get to God through the Messiah.

[ybrown]

Buddhism isn’t about a personal god at all, let alone our God. Buddhists hold to the view that the belief in one supreme God is based in fear. They also believe a supreme Being both doesn’t exist and is unnecessary. So no, Buddhist don’t have their own self prescribed path to one supreme God because that’s not whom they’re trying to reach anyway. Buddhism is a philosophy of morality and ethics, with much emphasis on self and the perpetuating circle of life and death through reincarnation.

In Islam one has to believe that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, but he’s not really an advocate or intercessor.

Hinduism is a big-o-bag-o-religion. They worship gods on different levels. In addition to worshipping over 200 million different gods, they also worship the one that they believe to be the supreme being as well. They believe this god is in everything and that everything is in this god. So on another level, since everything is in this god, they also worship themselves too because they believe they too are gods. So again, no advocate or interecessor with the One True God.

Judaism, you know they’re still waiting for a Messiah, so they too don’t have an intercessor.

So in short, no other religion (that I’m aware of) has an intercessor or an advocate to God. We are the only ones.

Something I just thought about and this may need further fleshing out so don’t hold me to this -- those other religions, those with founders/prophets, may not have advocates for one important reason.

Jesus’ tomb is empty. Where is He? At the right hand of the Father. That's how He can be the Great Advocate.

But those other guys...they're dead. And guess what? They're still dead. It sounds harsh, but you can't be an advocate if you're dead, right?

Hmmm.......

[GiantsDODie]

In my study of religions there is no clear cut way to get to God..

Only Christianity which is NOT a religion by the way gives a CLEAR and CONCISE way to God.. and that is through JESUS CHRIST.

[Jasmine nsi]

Something I just thought about and this may need further fleshing out so don’t hold me to this -- those other religions, those with founders/prophets, may not have advocates for one important reason.

Jesus’ tomb is empty. Where is He? At the right hand of the Father. That's how He can be the Great Advocate.

But those other guys...they're dead. And guess what? They're still dead. It sounds harsh, but you can't be an advocate if you're dead, right?

DING DING DING!!!

In my study of religions there is no clear cut way to get to God..

Only Christianity which is NOT a religion by the way gives a CLEAR and CONCISE way to God.. and that is through JESUS CHRIST.

BINGO!!!